College of Charleston News
Stories
March 2006
March 31,
2006
Anatomy
of practical jokes (op/ed)
One of my
friends told me about a practical joke he had played in high school. He had
read that car manufacturers made more cars than car keys; therefore, it was
possible that your key might work for a car other than yours, if it was the
same make and model. He drove a common Japanese import and thought that his
high school's parking lot would be a good place to see if what he read was true
or not.
During lunch one day,
he went to the parking lot to try out his key on other cars. Sure enough, it
worked on another car. What did he do next? He moved the stranger's car to
another parking spot two or three rows away. A few days later he moved the
stranger's car again. This time he found a much better parking spot for his
foil.
Chris
Lamb, an associate professor of Communication at the College of Charleston in
Charleston, S.C., is the editor of "Wry Harvest: An Anthology of Midwest
Humor," which will be published this summer by Indiana University Press.
He can be reached at lambc@cofc.edu
March 31,
2006
It's in the bag
Nandini Macauley, who
works in the School of the Arts at the College of Charleston, created a bag
that honors her heritage.
"Being of Indian
heritage, I wanted to present a purse that honors my culture, in addition to
being a beautiful work of textile art." Macauley said. "Originally, I
intended to use fabric from some of my mother's (and my) old saris, but I
didn't have the heart to cut any of them. So I decided to use fabrics that
resemble Indian designs."
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=78654§ion=fashion
March 31, 2006
S.C.
unemployment among worst in U.S.
“Even
though we’re getting high-paying jobs to the state, they’re not employing as
many people as they used to,” said Frank Hefner, an economist at the College of
Charleston.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/living/14228547.htm
March 30,
2006
College's best will show at 'Young Contemporaries'
Are you ready for
cutting-edge art, new talent and cutthroat competition?
"The Young
Contemporaries" annual juried student art exhibition takes place every
spring at the College of Charleston's Halsey Gallery. The contest can be
excruciating for the students because of it's intense competitive nature.
This year, only 107 works
of art were chosen for display in the gallery. There were 455 entries from the
various art departments at the college. This annual juried student exhibition
gives the college's studio art students a chance to have their work displayed
among peers in a professional gallery setting. It also has become a tradition
at this exhibition for the president of the college to present President's
Choice Awards that last year totaled $5,000.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=78472§ion=preview
March 30,
2006
Drumbeats
"Drumbeat for Mother
Earth," a 2000 documentary produced by the Indigenous Environmental
Network and Greenpeace, will be screened Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in Maybank Hall,
Room 100, at the College of Charleston. Presenting the film is guest speaker
Chris Spotted Eagle, described as a progressive political activist, cultural
worker, media artist and consultant based in Minneapolis. He also produces and
hosts "Indian Uprising," a weekly cultural affairs radio program.
The event is sponsored by
the Addlestone Library and the religious studies department.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=78422§ion=preview
March 30,
2006
Candidate
pledges ‘levity’
“Holland
is the type of candidate who can garner a lot of publicity and a lot of news
coverage and certainly draw attention to Sanford’s weaknesses,” said College of
Charleston political scientist Bill Moore.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/special_packages/election2004/13852210.htm
March 30,
2006
Sanford
needs to mend fences
Also, Sanford lacked a
good understanding of state government.
“It has been a learning
curve for him, which certainly is sufficient time to find his way,” said
College of Charleston analyst Bill Moore.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/special_packages/election2004/13579646.htm
March 29,
2006
Restaurant adds security after robbery
After the manager of
another Charleston restaurant was killed during a a botched robbery several
years ago, the local restaurant association commissioned John Crotts, who heads
the College of Charleston hospitality program, to do a study of crime at
restaurants.
He found restaurant crime
was moving from fast-food to sit-down restaurants and becoming more violent.
"You've got to remember
that robbers are looking for soft targets," Crotts said, adding that the
Saturday incident "serves as wake-up call to everyone."
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/14211160.htm
March
29, 2006
THE
WORKING LIFE
Resident assistant at the College of Charleston
"I began working as
an RA at the beginning of this year. I worked for Residence Life and Housing at
the College as a desk assistant for a couple of years and decided that it would
be beneficial to take a jump up from DA to RA. Some of my friends were already
RAs, and the benefits seemed really good.
"I get 60 percent
off housing fees because I'm required to live on campus. The hours are also
flexible, and they're willing to work around my class schedule. And, being an
RA allows me to personally interact between the kids that live in my assigned
house or residence hall. I really like being able to help out a group of kids,
letting them know how things work and where things are.
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A11486
March 29,
2006
Poverty
Tonight at 7, a panel of
scholars and service agency representatives will discuss "The Realities of
Lowcountry Poverty, Homelessness and Housing." It's in Maybank Hall,
corner of Calhoun and St. Philip streets, at the College of Charleston, and
it's free.
The program also will
include screening of the film "Who Among Us?" produced for Crisis
Ministries by the Center for Photography.
Panelists are Christa
Lewis of Sea Island Habitat for Humanity; Tammie Hoy of the Lowcountry Housing
Trust; Debby Waid of the Humanities Foundation; and Jeff Yungman of Crisis
Ministries. Dr. George Hopkins with C of C's history department will moderate.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=78198§ion=localnews
March 28,
2006
82 Queen owners beef up security in aftermath of weekend
robbery
After the Boathouse
slaying, Charleston police met in July 2003 with restaurant and hospitality
workers to talk about safety and crime prevention. The local restaurant
association also commissioned a restaurant-crime study by John Crotts, head of
the College of Charleston hospitality program.
That study found that
restaurant crime was moving away from fast-food restaurants in North Charleston
to sit-down restaurants in other parts of the Lowcountry and that it was
becoming more violent.
He attributed that shift
to managers of fast-food restaurants taking more precautions, such as adding
steel rear doors with peepholes, and forcing robbers to look elsewhere.
"You've got to
remember that robbers are looking for soft targets," Crotts said.
Saturday's robbery
"serves as wake-up call to everyone," he said.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=78123§ion=localnews
March 28,
2006
Hilton Head Island
'Iwo Jima' author speaks in Charleston
New York
Times best-selling author James Bradley is scheduled to speak at the College of
Charleston at 5 p.m. April 5 at the Sottile Theatre at 44 George St. in
downtown Charleston.
Bradley will lecture on
the topic of "Doing the Impossible," with a reception to follow.
The event is free.
The lecture topic draws
upon Bradley's vast research into the Pacific War and addresses the mindset it
takes to achieve success -- both in combat and in life.
http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/military_briefs/story/5614023p-5043612c.html
March 28,
2006
City hall plan for hospital raises concerns
As far as
moving city hall out of downtown, Andy Felts, director of the Riley Institute
for Urban Affairs and Policy Studies at the College of Charleston, said,
"If you locate a municipal facility outside of the core area, you're
sending a pretty clear message to the citizens that that core area is not as
valued as it could be."
March 28,
2006
When 'good' doesn't cut it
At the College of
Charleston, the state's third-largest school, 45 percent of its freshmen last
fall were from out of state, and 5 percent of those are paying in-state
tuition.
Sylvia Folk, the parent
of a College of Charleston student, said that although her daughter was
admitted to the school of her choice, friends have complained
of her choice, friends
have complained about their children not being accepted.
She said she wants to
know, "What's the schools' role: to be elitist institutions or to serve
the children of South Carolina and the parents who pay taxes?"
"When solid-B
students have trouble getting in, something's not right," she said.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=78135§ion=localnews
March 27,
2006
In Troubled Waters, Steady as She Goes (op/ed)
By Leo I Higdon, Jr.
http://president.cofc.edu/pdfs/Trusteeship.pdf
March 27, 2006
Leadership
Beyond
the Rhetoric: A Midterm Appraisal (op/ed)
Leo I.
Higdon Jr.
When I urged
institutional and IT leaders to “move beyond the rhetoric” in my Leadership
column published in EDUCAUSE Review in 2002, I had worked with IT
initiatives at two previous institutions of higher education and was preparing,
as president, to lead a third. In that earlier article, I addressed the rapidly
changing atmosphere in which higher education IT was evolving and the need to
align the IT plan with the strategic direction of the institution in order to
effectively move the institution forward. From there, I shared certain steps
that college and university leaders could take in ensuring effective IT
management for their institution: (1) creating a detailed IT operating plan;
(2) gaining consensus among IT and academic management; (3) defining and
utilizing metrics and data; (4) communicating the plan; (5) staying focused;
and (6) weighing criticism.
At the time, the College
of Charleston was developing a comprehensive strategic technology plan to
coordinate the increasing number of technology-enhancement efforts that were
under way and to ensure that faculty, staff, and students were fluent in both
current and emerging technologies. Now, two years into implementation of the
plan, I’m struck by both the increasingly fast pace of IT development and the
enormous challenges facing higher education in managing that development. And
though we’ve made remarkable progress with our IT planning and implementation
at the College of Charleston, I’m always aware of how easy it is to fulfill
Ringle and Updegrove’s description of an “expensive” and “potentially
self-defeating” exercise.
http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm06/erm0625.asp
March 27,
2006
Distinctions
Loren Bridges of the College
of Charleston's college relations department won an award in photography from
the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education for her photo essay,
"Chronicle of a Moving Experience."
Julie Frye Design and the
college received two CASE awards: an Award of Excellence for the college's
faculty and staff campaign and a Special Merit award for the College of
Charleston Fund new donor welcome packet.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=77704§ion=businessreview
March 26,
2006
Portrait of Memory
Mark Sloan, director of
the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston, has not
seen Shakur's paintings. However, he said the art of creating paintings of
people who have passed on is in the tradition of Fayum paintings.
In the first three
centuries A.D. in a fertile district of Roman-ruled Egypt called Fayum, a
diverse cosmopolitan community flourished. It was home to Greeks, Egyptians,
Romans, Syrians, Libyans, Nubians and Jews. Throughout the Nile Valley, these
people embalmed the dead. They placed over the mummy's face a portrait of the
deceased painted on wooden panels or linen. Today, these paintings are known as
Fayum. They were created to preserve an individual's memory.
Sloan said, "What
fascinates me about the Fayum paintings is that they were creative in a
fundamental sense. As funerary paintings, they brought to life for eternity
what they pictorially represent. The portraits show that size and monumentality
are not directly related, as the paintings are quite small but hold the
largeness of a presence and a time period lost long ago."
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=77655§ion=artstravel
March 26,
2006
Ivey Ballet
With the premiere of a
new dance, "Never Dies the Dream," the Robert Ivey Ballet, the
ballet-in-residence at the College of Charleston School of the Arts, will
present its 2006 Spring Concert in three performances Friday through April 2.
Headlining the program
will be the classic ballet "Pas de Quatre" with music by Pugni and
choreography by Robert Ivey. The four classic prima ballerinas will be danced by Emily
Askey, Amanda
Drawdy, Lindsay
Funderburk and Davena
Gross. Ivey notes
that this piece continues to excite the curiosity of dance lovers with its display
of technique and with its tone of jealousy among the four dancers.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=77669§ion=artstravel
March 26,
2006
Poet to read at College of Charleston
On Thursday,
award-winning poet Natasha Trethewey will read at the College of Charleston.
Trethewey will read in
Arnold Hall, Jewish Studies Center, at 7:30 p.m.
Trethewey, who is on
sabbatical from Emory University, is the Lehman Brady Joint Chair Professor of
Documentary and American Studies at Duke University and the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill. She is the author of two collections of poetry,
"Domestic Work" and "Bellocq's Ophelia," and her book,
"Native Guard," is just out from Houghton Mifflin. This collection
contains a powerful sequence that follows the Native Guard, one of the first
black regiments that fought in the Civil War.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=77664§ion=artstravel
March 26,
2006
Tsunami?
It's all we can manage
just to anticipate hurricane season. Two months before the season starts, Dr.
Nicholas Coch, of Queens College in New York City, will bring up the
possibility of a tsunami. Tsunami? In the Lowcountry? On the Atlantic coast?
Maybe so. Earth is a very active ball in the sky.
The College of
Charleston's Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Society of Sigma Xi
will present Coch on April 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Hollings Science Center, Room 112.
The lecture is free.
Coch is a professor of
geology in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Queens College and
is a nationally known expert on damage caused by hurricanes, tsunamis, etc.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=77861§ion=localnews
March 23,
2006
Downtown needs Greer City Hall, some say
Dr. Andy Felts, director
of the Riley Institute for Urban Affairs and Policy Studies at the College of
Charleston, said cities that want to thrive need to look at long-term
consequences of moving city halls, which are money generators, out of downtown.
Landmarks are important,
he said.
"Who asks how much
the Eiffel Tower cost?" he said.
March 23,
2006
Back
college rules (Letter to the editor)
I believe the College of
Charleston is taking the right action by holding its students accountable for
their behavior. You pay a high price to attend the college, but you agree to
represent the school on and off campus. The college has a commitment to make
sure it produces graduates who uphold moral and ethical standards. Students
have the responsibility of respecting the school's policies. Therefore, the
school is obligated to punish students if the requirements stated in the
student handbook are not met.
If anything, this code at
the College of Charleston should remain the same or a more severe punishment
enforced.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=77459§ion=letters
March 23,
2006
Good News and Hope from De Nyew Testament
Avery
Research Center for African America History and Culture in Charleston maintains
recordings of native speakers, assists in academic research and promotes
traditional expressions of Gullah culture including basket-making, music and
cultural arts. Penn Center continues to promote Gullah culture in Beaufort
County.
Penn and
Avery also serve as primary outlets for the sale of De Nyew Testament in South
Carolina.
March 22,
2006
Will He or Won't He?
According to Jamie
McKown, a visiting professor and political pundit at the College of Charleston,
Altman's stepping aside causes the most problems for Stavrinakis.
"Now the entire
'messaging' of his campaign will have to change, and how (Stavrinakis) will
have to approach the race will turn 180 degrees," says McKown.
"Before, he was facing a seated incumbent with a long career of public
service with a core of voters following him.
"Now, Stavrinakis
will have to shift gears totally and look at his campaign strategy
differently," as he faces an opponent who's been out of the public eye for
the past six years, says McKown, even though there is "no doubt, Leon has
more voter recognition."
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A11287
March 22,
2006
Moonlighting
"This
is not particular to the Lowcountry," says Denny Ciganovic, director of
career services at College of Charleston. "This is becoming a national
issue."
Heavy student loan debt
is often cited as one of the primary reasons for college graduates taking on
additional jobs. Individual debts of over $20,000 are common for
undergraduates, and those who go on to medical or law school may face
six-figure debt burdens when they graduate. Worse, these rising tuition costs
at colleges and universities have long outpaced any increases in starting
salaries for the graduates they produce.
"The monthly payback
is so high that it is difficult to break even or have a little extra,"
notes Ciganovic.
Working part-time while
attending school helps, but the gap between how much a student is able to earn
at a minimum-wage job and the expenses incurred each semester continues to
widen. About 40 percent of current students will carry what many financial experts
consider to be an unmanageable debt burden upon graduation, making getting
started all the more difficult.
"The pay in the
Southeast is five to 10 percent lower than in many other parts of the country
and that just exacerbates this problem," Ciganovic adds. "Some people
say that because it is cheaper to live here, you can manage on a lower salary,
but this is becoming less true."
March 22,
2006
C of C shows off talent in 'Wolfi'
There is a good deal of
talent in this town, and lots can be found at the College of Charleston's
theater department. "Wolfi" opened Tuesday at the Chapel Theatre not
only to a sold-out house, but a sold-out run.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=77231§ion=localnews
March 21,
2006
Cool spell aside, it's about blooming time
The warm
spell earlier this month put a bit of an early burst on the blooms, but the
cool spell now should slow them down enough to leave spring right on schedule,
so long as there's no hard freeze. Most flowering plants respond more to day
length than temperature, said Jean Everett, College of Charleston biology
instructor. The colors' peak should come beginning this weekend and last right
through the Flowertown Festival in Summerville March 31-April 2.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=77056§ion=localnews
March 20,
2006
President's
proposal calls for end to Perkins loan program
Don Griggs, financial aid
director at the College of Charleston, said there has not been much federal
contribution to the Perkins program for the past two years.
If the program is
eliminated, then there will be no more money to replace what's being lost,
Griggs said.
At the College of
Charleston, about 246 students received assistance from the Perkins program,
getting almost $436,581 annually.
Griggs believes that
without the Perkins program there will be several consequences for students.
They will have to work
more jobs or longer hours to make it through college.
http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060320/NEWS/603200323/1051/NEWS01
March 19,
2006
HAPPENINGS
The
English department of the College of Charleston will present a reading and book
signing by Stuart Dybek ("The Coast of Chicago") on Thursday at 7:30
p.m. in Alumni Memorial Hall on campus. The event is part of the College of
Charleston Visiting Writers' Series.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=76715§ion=books
March 19,
2006
C of C to stage original play about Mozart
Who exactly was Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart? Outside of his life-changing music, who was he and how was he
influenced by his surroundings?
These are questions
College of Charleston theater professor Allen Lyndrup decided to answer, with
the help of theater students, for the original play "Wolfi," to open
at the College of Charleston this week in honor of Mozart's 250th birthday.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=76733§ion=artstravel
March 18,
2006
Signs reflect irritation with panhandlers
Jason Anderson, who works
at the College of Charleston, said the signs are a bit harsh.
"I can understand
they don't want people hanging around, but maybe there's a better way to do
it," he said. "They (panhandlers) aren't animals.
"If they can't deal
with it in a friendly way, they could call the police and tell them there are
bums hanging around outside," Anderson said.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=76571§ion=localnews
March 18,
2006
Tough times for top talent
Although freshmen have a
difficult time getting into the competitive schools, officials said it's a lot
easier for students to transfer after attending another college for a year.
Suzette Stille, director
of undergraduate admissions at the College of Charleston, said the school
evaluates transfer students with 30 or more credits mainly on their college
grade-point average, which has to be 2.6 or higher. The average in-state
freshman this year had a high school grade-point average of 3.95.
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=76582§ion=stateregion
March 17,
2006
Dress for Success
The School of Business
and Economics Society (SBES) at the College of Charleston will host a Dress for
Success fashion show Tuesday. The society is trying to reach out to future
graduates and inform them about the appropriate business attire for interviews
and jobs. The event will be held at the College of Charleston Beatty Center
Atrium from 3 to 4 p.m. The event will showcase clothes from King Street
sponsors, such as A.J. Davis and M. Dumas & Sons, and is a part of the
School of Business and Economics Professional Week.
"Students who go to
the Dress for Success fashion show will get ideas on how to dress for different
types of situations, everything from a career fair to an interview," says
SBES President Ben Jatlow. "We hope they will understand the importance of
dressing appropriately all the time. We want to make sure students give a good
first impression."
http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=76108§ion=fashion
March 17,
2006
Robinson's triumph turns 60
Jackie Robinson played in
his first spring training game as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers organization
60 years ago today. Though it would be another year before Robinson became the
first black player to play in a regular-season Major League Baseball game, he
broke a major color barrier by playing for Brooklyn's Montreal farm club in an
exhibition game against the Dodgers on a Sunday morning in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Chris Lamb, an associate
professor of Communication at the College of Charleston, has a detailed chapter
on the game in his 2004 book 'Blackout, The Untold Story of Jackie Robinson's
First Spring Training' (University of Nebraska Press).